Los Angeles Airport: Hell hole of the Pacfic

Forget Russell, New Zealand as a rowdy, lawless whaling port in the early 1800s. Los Angeles Airport must truly be the "hell hole of the Pacific". If I don't go mad over the next few hours before my flight leaves it will be a miracle.

Farewell New Zealand

I am at the Auckland airport now to begin the long journey home.

Today I had my breakfast on the back veranda of the B&B before packing up my bags and checking out. I left my bags at the B&B and arranged for a taxi to pick me up at 3 pm. I decided to go back down to the harbour as it was a beautiful sunny morning. I went to the Pacific Series area to watch the New Zealand vs US yacht race (the kiwis won) on the big screen.


I had my lunch at one of the harbour restaurants -- S'oul Bar & Bistro. Hapuku fish and preserved lemon brandade on toast with poached eggs and asparagus. Instead of a savvie I had a glass of the Gibbston Valley pinot gris from Central Otago region (all of the savs on the wine by the glass list I had already tried).

Then I just wandered around in the sunshine until heading back up to my B&B to get my bags and the taxi to the airport. Homeward bound.

Auckland and an interesting cat fact

This morning in Paihia was hot. I had my tea on my little deck around 9 am and the sun was already beating done. Was supposed to get well into the 30s there today.

My shuttle to the Bay of Islands airport in Kerikeri picked me up at 10:15. I had said goodbye to Sassy the cat with some good head pets and chin rubs while drinking my tea. Said goodbye to Siegrid as well and got a lovely hug from Suzi the motel owner as I got into the shuttle. I had a lovely stay at the Outrigger motel.

Just a short flight to Auckland and got a shuttle to my bed and breakfast -- the Great Ponsonby B&B. It's a great place. A wooden villa built in 1898, it is in a great little neighbourhood about a 20 minute walk to the harbour/downtown area. My room is quite nice and cozy with french doors going out to a little veranda looking out at the garden. It is called the "Dunedin Room" as it has two paintings of the Dunedin area by the B&B's owner's grandfather. (I like that for my last night on kiwi soil as I liked Dunedin so much.)


I dropped my bags off and headed out for a late lunch. The B&B recommended a place just up the street called Bambina so I went there and had the seared rare tuna salad with green beans, avocado and capers. Very tasty along with a glass of Rochford Rees savvie from the Marlborough Region (Val G. -- this was a very nice one).

Then I walked down to the harbour. I will explore the Ponsonby area a bit more tomorrow but it looks quite nice with treed streets and old wood houses.



Got down to the harbour and it is a pretty amazing harbour. Lots of sailboats and restaurants and bars filled with good-looking yachting types. (The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series yacht race started today.) But it is also a working harbour. So nice when a city makes good use of its waterfront and the city goes right up to the water (in other words, isn't separated by a big expressway like in Toronto.) Lots of modern hotels and apartment buildings but old buildings as well like the old ferry building.


I walked around the harbour and downtown and it was definitely strange to be back in a big city. Auckland has a population of 1.3 million -- which is 31 percent of the country's population. When I planned my trip I thought about spending a few days here but I decided to stick to smaller places as I was looking to relax. Next time (and there will be one!) I will definitely spend some time here. Although a big city it has a nice feel to it.

The clouds had rolled in by late afternoon so I headed back to my B&B. I had a late lunch so just picked up a bottle of savvie (Mt. Difficulty "Roaring Meg" savvie) and am staying in having some wine with some nibbly bits of pepperoni and nuts. I have my veranda doors open and the garden is lit with floodlights so it's a lovely last night in New Zealand. Tomorrow I plan to just walk around some more before heading to airport for my late evening flight.

Okay -- here's an interesting cat fact I just read in the New Zealand magazine "North and South". New Zealand has the world's highest number of households with cats -- 51 percent of kiwi households have at least one cat. (Canada is second with 38 percent and Switzerland is third with 35 percent). In the shuttle from the airport today there was a young girl with her father and the shuttle driver dropped them off at their house first -- the young girl jumped out of the shuttle van and ran up to the front porch and picked up her cat and gave it a big hug. No wonder I feel so comfortable here -- cat country. To end today's post here is photo of the cat here at the B&B (and, no, I don't know why it is wearing a blue bib...)


And I liked the looks of this burger joint on Ponsonby Road...

Justin Rutledge has a big fan in Auckland... besides me

Went into a music store in downtown Auckland this afternoon, Marbecks. Was looking at the staff picks wall and there for RL's picks was Toronto singer/songwriter (and Junction boy) Justin Rutledge's new CD, "Man Descending". I said to one of the staff that I was thrilled to see it there and the guy said "RL. That's me." I told him I was from Toronto and am a huge Justin fan. He said Justin was his best music find of 2008 and that he is doing his best to spread the word down here and has started a nice little following so far. Cool. And he seemed pleased to meet someone who has seen Justin play live.

Here's a bit of Justin. Canada continues to call me home.

Coastal walk to Opua

Today I walked from Paihia to Opua on the coastal walkway and Sigrid came along with me. We headed out about 10:30. There had been a brief shower earlier in the morning but it looked like the sky was clearing up. As we got just outside of Paihia the skies opened and it started to pour. We sheltered under a palm tree until it stopped. It didn't last long so we headed back off on our way following the road for a bit before getting on to the walking path. We were a bit wet but quickly dried off. Once the rain stopped it didn't take long for the ground to dry up and the rest of the day was fine and clear.

The walk went up and down the coastal bluffs, around the little bays, through bush and mangrove swamps. Some very neat tree trunks growing out of the sides of the bluffs.




Three hours later we arrived in Opua -- a nice little harbour.


There isn't much there besides the harbour, the car ferry to Russell and related marine businesses. But there was restaurant called the Blue Water Bistro and we had our lunch on their deck overlooking the harbour. It was very pleasant and I had raw salmon with a ponzu dipping sauce and a glass of Oyster Bay sav.

After resting while eating our lunch we headed out for the three hour walk back to Paihia. By this time the tide was out so the walk looked quite different with water out of most of the bays and out of the mangrove swamp. Sure did get some good exercise today.

Put my feet up on my little deck area with Sassy on my lap or at my feet for about an hour and half and then Sigrid and I went out for my farewell to Paihia dinner. We went to "Only Seafood" which is, as you may have guessed, a seafood restaurant. Located on the beachfront, it is in an old wooden house and has a lovely garden and is bright and airy inside. I had the flash-seared tuna with lightly picked cucumber for my appetizer. Lovely fresh tuna. Then for my main I had the fresh fish of the day -- which I forget the name of -- pan-fried with lemon, olive and parsley. It came with a side salad of leafy greens with beetroot. The fish was excellent -- so simply prepared and delicious. A glass of Wither Hills savvie was my wine of choice. For dessert I had the raspberry creme brulee. A very nice meal to end my stay in Paihia.

Tomorrow morning the shuttle is picking me up at 10:15 to go to the airport in Kerikeri to get my flight to Auckland. I will be there overnight and then it will be time to return to Toronto.

I have staked my claim...

The funny thing was that when I was walking by this place today there was a radio playing a cover version of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind". Is my native country calling me home?

You must be joking. I have to come back to this?

Just reading the Toronto weather news on google news... Reentry into winter life is gonna be tough.

Cape Reinga and 90 Mile Beach

Up early this morning to shower and have my yogurt and manuka honey before the "Dune Rider" picked me up at 7:20 am. Siegrid, a German woman staying at the motel, was along for the ride with me.

It takes about four hours to get up to Cape Reinga at the very tip of the north island from Paihia. The drive goes through a lot of farmland -- lots of sheep, cows (dairy and beef), kiwi fruit farms and avocado (or "avo" as they kiwis say) groves. We stopped at a lookout to enjoy the view over Doubtful Bay (we could see dolphins jumping out of the water down in the bay) and Mangonui harbour (photo below of harbour).


It was only going on 9 am by this time and the sun was already getting very hot.

Then we drove on to Gumdiggers Park. I had no idea what this would be but it was very interesting. From 1870 to 1920 this area was dug for 'gum' from the ancient kauri forest buried under the layers of soil, clay, sandstone and peat. Gum, I learned, is amber. Most of the gum found was used for creating high-quality varnishes. The sap would fall from the ancient trees on to the ground and then harden over the many, many, many years to form the gum (amber). Here is our guide in a hole dug out around an Kauri tree stump that has been carbon dated to about 100,000 to 150,000 years old.


Many of the gumdiggers came from Dalmatia, from around Dubrovinik. Or as the kiwis call them, "Dalis". Today much of the population around the town is from Dalmatian origin. The Dalmatians are also credited for bringing the grapevine to New Zealand to cultivate for wines. (Let's have a big round of applause for those Dalis!)

The grounds were also filled with manuka trees (otherwise known as tea trees). The honey from the bees that pollinate these trees is manuka honey which contains anti-bacterial properties. It has been my breakfast of choice during my holiday -- I just add a big spoonful to some plain yogurt. It's a delicious honey and very good for you (besides eating it you can put in on your lips or skin for dryness or on cuts, although it may be a bit sticky). Biologists study the honey to try to figure out how the anti-bacterial qualities work. The manuka tree is also used for making tea tree oil -- also good for your skin.


Back on the coach we settled into our seats for more driving through lovely landscape and we stopped for coffee at a cafe and so people could buy sandwiches to take up to the Cape for lunch. Lovely gourmet sandwiches -- I chose a roast beef with horseradish mayo on crusty bread. Then back on the coach.

We got up to the Cape around mid-day. This is where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman sea. The soil near the cape is very red -- much like Prince Edward Island.


Cape Reinga is also a sacred place for the Maori -- it is where they believe that people's spirits go after you die to leave this world, say goodbye to loved ones, and move on to the next world. (Thanks Terra P. for telling me I should make sure I go here -- it was a fantastic feeling.)

Because the area is sacred you can't eat out on the Cape so we all ate our lunch on the coach as we headed off for the Giant Sand Dunes.


I would have loved to throw myself down the dunes on a boogie board but the driver recommended I not risk rolling off and aggravating my hip and lower back again. Next time.


After the dunes we headed down the west coast of the peninsula on 90 Mile Beach. The beach is actually classed as a state highway but, of course, is only useable during low tide and even then if you don't know what you are doing you risk getting stuck in or sinking into the sand.


We stopped along the beach so we could wade out into the Tasman Sea (or the "Tassie").


At the end of the beach (which is only about 60 miles in reality) we got back on the paved roads and stopped at Ancient Kauri Kingdom where they make some pretty spectacular (and pricey) furniture out of the old trees and stumps.

We were then back on the coach to head to Mangonui to the "fush and chups" shop there. The driver called in our orders so it was ready when we got there and we sat on the deck overlooking the harbour enjoying our fresh "fush and chups" wrapped in lots of paper (and glasses of Kim Crawford savvie -- Val G., $5 Canadian for big glass of Kim here.)


Then we continued the drive back south to Paihia -- getting back to the motel about 6:15. So a long day on the road but a good one. I also really enjoyed Siegrid's company. She has taught herself english and she just loves New Zealand -- always saving her money to make another trip here. She just arrived the other day leaving a big snowstorm in Germany behind. She is 65 but you'd never know it. She was telling me about her hobbies -- photography, painting and playing music (keyboards, guitar and sitar). She used to teach music to children and she said "I like all music. I like classical very much. I like to play Beethoven -- it's good. But also Pink Floyd and AC/DC." She was good fun. Tomorrow if the weather is nice we will go for a walk together along the coast to Opua. They are saying chance of showers but we will see.

The Waitangi treaty grounds and Haruru Falls

Woke up this morning and had my usual brekkie of yogurt and manuka honey. It was overcast but I figured, oh well, I am probably due for some rain. I headed out for the half hour walk to Waitangi to visit the treaty grounds. The grounds are gorgeous with native bush, views of the bay and english gardens. This is where the treaty was signed in 1840 between the British and the Maori. The treaty basically provided the groundwork for today's country and government -- two people working to one goal. It is a way of working studied by the UN today and admired by many. Although there are, of course, more areas of discussion about the history and the process, it is different in that the Maori seem to have been working from more of a position of power and a genuine desire to work to a peaceful outcome to settlement. The Maori are a spiritual people so the areas of religion were something they were interested in and they engaged the missionaries and converted to Christianity with an understanding and a, shall I say, admiration. They believed in a god and were happy to worship a Christian god while still keeping their other gods -- the god of land, the god of water, etc. Not unlike pagan Romans or North American indigenous peoples. If there is belief you can argue and adjust those beliefs to encompass more belief -- or different beliefs. Okay, that's my simplistic viewpoint. But I would also like to say that I learned today that the Brits refused to have any women sign the treaty and the Maori women revolted. Although they had clear designations of roles iin their tribes they were considered 50-50 roles of participatoin in society. Prominent women who descended from chiefs had a tribal importance and they wanted to be involved with signing the treaty. And they won out and there are women Maori who signed. And it is that involvement in government that led to New Zealand being the first "country" to give women the vote.

There was an amazing carved war canoe on display (built in 1940 for treaty centenary celebrations) and it still goes out into the water for celebrations. Created through joinery -- no nails or glue. Amazing that the Maori people actually got to New Zealand from the Pacific Islands -- Hawaii, Tahiti, etc -- in wooden boats like this (larger even with double pontoons). Imagine being out in the Pacific with nothing to protect you. I am always amazed to read about European settlers on their boats but, my god, those that came before them were really overcoming the odds. But with their faith and spirituality I imagine they had good karma with their sea god to provide some protection.


The meeting house was also amazing. The guide explained a bit about the structure and carvings on the outside as well as inside. Inside there are carvings and weavings from all the tribes making up the walls and ceiling of the meeting house. The only tribe not represented on the walls is the one tribe from the south island. Because the south island is much colder the Maori didn't really settle it. And the one tribe that did intermarried with European settlers very easily and didn't have the problems they had in the north island so didn't feel they were part of the treaty. (I had read about this in Dunedin where the Settler's Museum had a good exhibition on the Maori mingling very peacefully with the mainly Scottish settlers.) They did sail up by canoe to provide a carved wooden throne that is placed in one corner of the meeting house in order to explain that although they felt their history wasn't part of the treaty they were part of the Maori history.




After looking around the grounds I stopped at the cafe to have a lunch of sweetcorn and corainder fritters (and, yes, glass of savvie). By this time the cloud cover was clearing and the day was becoming quite fine. Then I headed out to walk a bit up the road to find the start of the trail to Haruru Falls. It was a five kilometre walk to the falls through natural bush and a quite spooky mangrove swamp.



Past the mangrove swamp I came across some trees full of some gorgeous birds. I think they might be a type of heron? I have to look them up. You can see a mum feeding her baby in their nest in the tope portion of this photo (with two other birds below them)...


Then I got to the Haruru Falls ...

... and took a look at them and turned around and walked the five kilometres back to the treaty grounds and then back into Paihia. A good long walk. Then relaxed on my little deck area with my book and Sassy. I was going to go out to one of the seafood restaurants but decided to stay in and cook the pasta I had leftover from the other night with sundried tomato pesto.

Tomorrow I have an early start as am heading up to Cape Reinga -- New Zealand's northernmost point. The "Dune Rider" is picking me up at 7:20 in front of the motel. A German woman, Siegrid, checked into the motel this afternoon. She stopped to talk to me (and Sassy) when I was sitting out this evening on her way back from the grocery shop. She just flew in from Frankfurt to Seoul to Auckland to Bay of Islands today so was fairly tired. But she was interested in going to Cape Reinga and I told her I was going tomorrow. She asked if I would mind her coming along with me and I said absolutely not. So she asked Suzi to call to see if there was a place open for her and there was so we will head out tomorrow morning.

The Cream Trip: A Day in the Bay by Boat

Spent the day today out on a boat tour called "The Cream Trip". Historically, this route was done to drop off and pick up supplies, mail, milk etcetra to farmers living out on the islands of the bay. Today it still drops off supplies, newspapers and mail to some of the holiday homes of the wealthy who vacation out on the islands (with caretakers running the properties). It was a nice day with non-stop stunning views of the islands, rocks, birds etc. Saw some gannets diving down into the water for fish. We saw dolphins and stopped to watch them for a bit. I had paid extra for swimming with dolphins (if a pod was found) but we weren't allowed to go in as they had babies with them. (Got a refund at end of day as couldn't get in water with them.) All in all, I am glad to have done the dolphin swim in Akaroa as it was with a small group of people and just a tiny catamaran.



Yesterday the same trip saw whales but we weren't so lucky today. The boat, however, was able to go through the Hole in the Rock (sometimes the weather and the tides don't allow for it).


When you come out of the hole on the other side and look back at the island from a certain viewpoint you can see what they call "The Polypenessian Princess". Along the right edge near the top you can make out what looks like the profile of a woman's face and it looks like she is reclining on the rocks.
See if you can see it...


The boat stopped in Otehei Bay on Urupukapuka Island for an hour and a half for lunch. This is the bay where the American writer Zane Grey used to come fishing. I had brought some cheese, pepperoni and almonds with me in my backpack so just bought a glass of, what else, savvie at the bar and then set up my towel on the beach and just relaxed and enjoyed the lovely bay.

Something I learned today was that beaches in New Zealand are public property. Private property begins twenty metres past the spring high tide mark. So even some of the big houses we saw today owned by wealthy people that have gorgeous sandy beaches in front of them can be used by anyone. As long as you have a boat to pull up with, you can access the beach or the person's wharf.

(Sassy the motel cat has just come in to my room and jumped up in my lap. She says hello.)

The boat returned back to Paihia harbour about seven hours later. A lovely day. But being in the sun all day (I sat up top in the open) is tiring so just picked up some lamb korma and rice to heat up in my room and will likely zonk out early tonight. Tomorrow I plan to go to the treaty grounds and go for a long walk. Get my land legs working again after a day at sea.

Further Adventures of the Cat Whisperer

Around 11 o'clock last night, when I was lying in bed reading, there was a rather persistent meowing at my sliding door. I opened my curtain and there was Sassy. I opened the door and in she came. I left the door open slightly figuring she would get bored and leave. But she lay down beside me while I read and when I woke up this morning at 6 a.m., she was still curled up beside me.

Russell: "Hell hole of the Pacific"

Today is January 25th in New Zealand -- which means it is my dad's birthday here. But not in Windsor when it will be tomorrow. But I called him this morning to wish birthday greetings in advance of the 25th finding its way to Windsor. Happy 79th, dad!

Caught one of the ferries across to Russell this morning. The Bay of Islands area was one of the first inhabited areas of New Zealand -- by both the Maori and European settlers. Russell was a whaling port and in the 1800s it had a reputation as being a rowdy, lawless place (like the wild west I guess). Someone had termed it then as "the hell hole of the Pacific". Bit different these days. Today it is a lovely seaside holiday village with some old historic houses and beautiful flowering trees.




The photo below is of the house where the village's policeman lives (how cool is that! I feel a crime novel coming on). The tree is a fig tree that was planted about 120 years ago. It is wonderfully gnarled but still growing strong.


I walked around a bit checking out the shops and art galleries as well as the houses and rental accommodation (because I do plan to find myself back in this part of the world again). Then I went to the historic Duke of Marlborough hotel on the harbourfront to have lunch on their lovely old Victorian porch. I had the fish and chips along with a glass of Otuwhero Estate's "O:TU" savvie from Marlborough region. A bunch of leather clad bikers pulled up on their choppers and strutted up on to the porch and I thought maybe Russell was going to become raucous again (no worries as I knew where to find the policeman) but they ordered glasses of wine and sat around discussing the glorious weather. So much for this "hell hole".

After my lunch I went to Pompallier Mission which was started in 1839 by French Roman Catholic missionaries. I was pleasantly surprised to find it housed their book printing and binding facilities that have all been restored. They produced thousands of handmade leatherbound books in the Maori language like "Ko Te Ako me te Karakia o Te Hahi Katorika Romana (The Teachings and Prayers of the Roman Catholic Church)" over a period of eight years (really pissing off the Anglicans in the area who apparently made no effort to translate their teaching texts into Maori). The mission is New Zealand's oldest Catholic building and its oldest industrial building (since it housed the leather tannery and printing press).



Then I wandered up to the Anglican church, Christ Church, which is New Zealand's oldest church.


It is a lovely wooden church and bright and airy inside. All of the pews have needlepoint cushions on them that have been created by area women (and likely some men I suppose -- there must be a kiwi equivalent of Rosey Grier) with local flora, fauna, historic buildings etcetera featured on them.

The little graveyard was also nice to wander around. (Saw the graves of some of the Fullers -- who ran a boating company in the bay and whose descendents still run the company that I will be going out with tomorrow for my day tour on a boat.) I also really liked this gravestone for Minnie Eveline Ford who died at age three. I just really liked the inscription "Is it well with the child? It is well." Minnie died in 1876 but I thought of her today. And, because you are reading about her and seeing her grave in this photo, you are thinking of her. Minnie lives.


I caught the ferry back to Paihia (it is about a 15 minute ferry ride) and went to one of the local shops, Flying Fish Design Shop, where I bought a few little treats for myself. Great store with lots of New Zealand crafts and jewelry. I have a feeling I will be going back there again. Also popped into the local bookshop to look around and bought Elizabeth Jane Howard's new novel (I enjoyed her 'Cazalet Chronicles') and a copy of the latest issue of 'New Zealand Quilter' magazine for my mum. Then I popped back to my motel and put on my swimming cozzie and walked down the road around the bluff to a lovely beach and had myself a good swim. So nice to just bounce around in the waves and the water was nice and warm with the sun beating down upon it. Then I lay on my towel and read for about an hour and a half.

Came back to my room and sat on my little deck with my book and a glass of savvie and the motel cat (who I now know is called Sassy -- or Sassy Sally in full, as the daughter of the family who owns the motel named her). She's a talkative little cat and kept jumping in and out of my lap which was just fine with me. I picked up some fresh pasta and sun-dried tomato pesto at the grocery shop so am going to eat in tonight. Best go make my dinner now as it is going on 9 o'clock. Tomorrow morning I head out for a full-day boat trip to see the bay. The weather is supposed to be just as grand as it was today.

Happy, happy: Paihia in the Bay of Islands

The happy eagle has landed. I think I have ended up in the perfect spot to end my summer/savvie/savasana-seeking sojourn in this fine country. Arrived in Paihia around 4:50 pm. My flight from Napier to Auckland was right on time so my tight connection wasn't a problem. Walked off my plane, across the tarmac, into the terminal, then back out on to the tarmac and on to my next plane -- and my luggage managed to follow me somewhere in the background. (Lisa C. -- you may be noting some travel karma here - hee, hee.) The flights were great, too, for looking down at the landscape. Flew over Lake Taupo and lots of forest-covered mountains from Napier to Auckland. And coming into Kerikeri from Auckland we flew over a road along which a whole herd of cows was walking single file -- it was an amazing sight. The landscape around here is a hilly with lots of farmland and bush. Reminds me of the area around the yoga place -- a very comfortable feeling. I liked Napier and the endless ocean and the architecture but there was something about landing here than created an "ahhhhhhhhh" feeling -- a feeling of comfort.

And just a moment here to say how much I like Air New Zealand. ("Air New Zealand, I love you", as Derek would put it.) All of my "Air NZ Link" flights on small planes within the country have been great. The staff is always friendly and happy and it is nice to be in a place where there are no security checks (my liquids and exploding sheep don't have to be packed in ziplock baggies), they let kids go up into the cockpit during the flight and even let the kids help to hand out snacks and candies. It's like things used to be in our neck of the woods. (And as a Star Alliance member airline I am earning Aeroplan points and am going to have some good free airfare somewhere else this year!)

At the Bay of Islands airport in Kerikeri I got the shuttle van to drop me off in Paihia at the Outrigger motel (about a 22 kilometre drive). I love these shuttle services. It makes it so easy to get around and the cost is much less than taxis. You load up the van with any number of people and get dropped off at your accommodation or wherever you want to go. And you can book these shuttles to transport you anywhere. Perfect for the solo non-driver.

The shuttle driver dropped me off at my motel, The Outrigger, and I checked in. Big thanks here to my friend Erica in Dusseldorf for the recommendation (she stayed at this motel with her sister and her dad previously). Erica said the owners were superb hosts and that was evident upon check-in as Suzi gave me some brochures and ideas on what to do during my time here -- so that I could think tonight and then ask questions tomorrow. Based on her info (and some ideas I already had in mind) I have an itinerary planned and, weather permitting, it will be a perfect end to my trip.

The Outrigger motel is just up the street from the main wharf. So while I am not directly on the water, I can still feel the presence of the water. My check-in was also enhanced by the cat sitting on the counter.

I dropped my bags in my room and went to the grocery store which is pretty much next to the motel. Got some juice, yogurt and manuka honey for my brekkies and a bottle of Wild South savvie from the Marlborough region. (My motel room has a little Fisher & Paykel fridge as well as a microwave and stovetop.)

Then I walked down to the wharf checking out some of the shops. The Bay of Islands area is, as you might have guessed, a bay with a lot of islands. Paihia is a nice little town with a big wharf from which ferries and tour boats depart.


I walked around perusing menus and ended up going to 35 Degrees South restaurant right on the wharf as I wasn't overly hungry and they had salmon carpaccio on the menu. It was just what I needed. Slices of raw salmon layered with cos lettuce and creme fraiche laced with a really nice olive oil (I should have asked if it was a kiwi-grown olive oil), hazelnuts and oranges from Kerikeri. It was light, fresh and very tasty. I had a glass of Ti Point pinot gris from Hawke's Bay to accompany it. For dessert I had the molten chocolate babycakes with vanilla ice cream - yum yum. There was a guy playing guitar in the bar who was very good -- very nice voice. He did some Van Morrison, as well as very original versions of "Hotel California" and "Margaritaville".

After eating I stood on the wharf for a bit watching a para-sailor come in. The parachutes are attached to the boat and they slowly pull them in. Hmmmmm, looks like fun...


Then I headed back to my room and sat out at my little table and chairs on the deck outside my room. (There is also a back door off the bathroom in my room that goes out to a little patio area with table or lounger that gets the sun so I am quite pleased with my room.)


And if you are very observant you might notice a certain feline figure in the right foreground of the above photograph. (Kristin -- this is where your eyes start to glaze over but would you believe that the cat's name is Victor Newman??? I kid you not. No, actually, I kid you entirely. I have to find out the cat's name. Kristin - you can glaze over now and leave the room.)

Here is that same cat once it decides to come up to the steps to my little deck, lift its tail and spray (Trixie -- this doesn't mean it is okay to do the same thing in the dining room) and then jump up onto my lap...


We had a pet and purr session and then it was distracted by some birds in the bushes across the parking lot. But no worries as when I was unpacking it came back into my room to help...


I will have to find out its name and it has a very short tail so there must be a story there somewhere.

Well, am going to make a cup of tea now and read for a bit before slipping off into dreamland. Tomorrow is supposed to be a lovely fine and sunny day and I will take ferry across to Russell to look around there.

I am down to my last week in New Zealand as this time next week I will be on a plane heading back to reality (and snow and wind chill factors). I hope to make the best of this last week. Thanks to you all, gentle readers, for reading my blog and my ramblings, Friends, co-workers (also in the 'friends' category) and family (hello Aunt Yvonne!!!!!) -- thanks for reading. I would have written it all anyway but I am glad to know that people were interested. And a special thanks to Lisa M. in Oregon for checking out the blog -- Lisa and I have never met but we have been corresponding for years now after I replied to her online posting on a travel group about Malta. This was well before blogs and gmail but we have kept in touch since then about each other's travels and someday we will meet but I just wanted to say a special hello to her (plus she's a cat lover extraordinaire).

Goodnight all. More tomorrow.

Memories of Lawrie

Just received an email from Mayo who is back in Tokyo now. She sent me these photos from our horseback "riding" evening that she took prior to my forced dismount.



My bruise has faded quite a bit now and the twinges in my hip and lower back are much better. Here was part of the bruise at its height...


Ah, Lawrie, my evil steed, I remember you well.